Wordless Wednesday

I had it all planned

This was going to be the week that I got back on top of things. Life has been CRAZY on a personal level for the last month or so, with many trips to visit family, many things to not get done at home, a new photography course to take, and an occasional trip to the cottage. Willy and I have literally not spoken about anything of significance (other than which lil has – or has not pooped lately) for over a week. My head has been spinning, but I figured that it would relax this week.

So sure was I that it was this week, that I started on a new project, writing a course for the local college!! I am kinda pumped about this one, even though it is somewhat intimidating. Following the meeting to set this up, I began to notice that work is starting to look somewhat busy for the next six weeks or so, what with that awesome conference we are hosting and a few projects coming due. Admiring myself for recognizing and admitting that this is a problem, I spoke with N (aka the super awesome wonderful woman who loves our lil peeps three four days a week) and arranged to have her care for the lils one extra day a week until December. Perfect, right?

There is this wrench in the plans, you see. This weekend, the lils got sick. This isn’t the slightly runny nose, “ok to go to daycare” sick, it’s the croupy, sad and whiny, hacking up a lung, OH MY GOD look at the colour of that mucous sick that keeps them home to infect their parents.

It is the first day of my back on track week and I am already behind. I got in the office for a little over three hours today. This is not helping the running around with my head cut off that was planned for the day. I haven’t even taken advantage of that extra day, and I am already behind!! I am sure with all the runny nosed kisses and licks (yes, licks!) that I will get sickSo much for getting back on top of things!

Thankful

This Thanksgiving weekend Willy and I headed with the lils to my Mom’s cottage for the weekend. It was a beautiful weekend and we did lots of fun things together, as well as close up the cottage for the season. I had some time to reflect on what I am thankful of the most this year:

-My family. Willy who is a great husband and a fabulous dad. He makes me a better person. My lil peeps. They are the sunshines in my life and I love them to pieces.

- My health, and that of my husband and children.

- My extended family. Fractured though it is, I am so happy that they are in my life, and my family’s life.

- My job. I love what I do, and there were many times over the last year when it looked like we might have to close our doors. The future is still uncertain, but we are still doing our thing.

- Good friends, who have been so patient and supportive lately. Means SO much.

Finding My Muse

One of my favourite things in the world to do is take pictures, it’s in my blood. There have always been cameras in my life. My grandfather is a collector, with upwards of twenty cameras. He still takes pictures almost every day, even though he is in his late nineties. He bought me my first camera, a little film point and shoot. It was a Canon, and took fabulous pictures.

When I was in my teens each member of my family had their own SLRs, split between fully manual Pentax and mostly-manual Minolta bodies. We all spent a small fortune on processing, but thankfully I worked in a camera store so there was a small discount. The prints weren’t free, but there were lots of them. I was still shooting my old X-370 a few years ago, but have gradually gone to a d-SLR, my Sony A-100.

In a roundabout way Sony bought Minolta a few years ago, so this keeps my true to my roots. Shooting in digital all the time made allowed me to step it up and take many more pictures and get more creative with the shots that I took, but it also made me a lazy photographer. I started relying on all these cool modes that the camera had, and sadly started relying on the “auto” modes for most shots.

This Spring I stepped up my picture taking, thanks in part to the Kids in the Capital ABC challenge and later my 365 project. While both of these projects have challenged me and forced me to look differently at how I compose and take pictures, they left me wanting to work on my technical skills too. So a good friend and I have enrolled in a class at a local photography school. After two weeks of classes I am having so much fun! I’d forgotten how much fun it is to play with my camera! Some of my recent manual shots:

Wordless Wednesday

Healing hugs

Woo had expressed an interest in going to my father-in-law’s funeral service and we felt that it was important to include him. The funeral was yesterday, and the service was beautiful. While Woo did sit and pay attention to some of the it, but it was long, and he is three. I spent some of it crawling after him, keeping him quiet and preoccupied, and trying to appease him until the organ started playing again.

I think that he did get something out of it, despite his fidgeting. He got to see others grieving, to hear again what a wonderful man his grandfather was, and know that others will miss him too. I was surprised that I was glad to have him there too. In one of the moments when he was sitting quietly between Willy and I, he sensed that I was crying. Turning to look up at me, he gave me a concerned look. He then wiped my tears away with his hands, and threw his arm around my neck in the tightest, longest hug. It was such a wonderful, sweet gesture from a little boy trying to make his Mama feel better. I am so glad he came.

Home alone for a week

Willy has been away for much of the last week, and it has been a long week without him. So long that I am pretty sure that there were a couple of extra days in there somewhere. He travels frequently enough that I am used to being home with the lils, and know that I will appreciate him even more when he gets home. He spoils me, and I SUCK at being a single parent. Some evidence to support this:

There are currently eleven loads of laundry filling the two couches in my family room. They just keep piling up, and I do not have time to fold them. When I get the lils dressed I just reach in to the pile and pull out their clothes for the day. Same with pajamas at night. I actually gave serious consideration to just putting Goose in disposable diapers on more than one occasion this week, because the diapers were too buried in the piles.

Our meal selection has been terrible this week. I just throw stuff on the table, and hope that they eat it. If they don’t, I just offer something else, or ask them to tell me what they will eat. There have been at least two occasions this week where we have all eaten different meals because I didn’t have the energy and ability to make meals and combat the “I don’t want to eat that” so I gave in, plenty.

I have not bathed either of them. Not once.

There was a toysplosion in pretty much every room of the house. I stopped bothering to pick the toys up and haven’t even thought to ask them too. It is MUCH easier to just move to another room and play there.

Woo has taken to reminding me to do things that I really should be remembering. This includes things that I really should be remembering, like feeding the cat, bringing the diaper bag to daycare, and giving him his puffer. You know, the medicine that helps him breath, that he takes every day?! I would not remember these things, if not for his reminder. That is too much to ask from my THREE year old.

We have been late to day care everyday this week, even the days that I don’t have to get ready for work. Getting their breakfast on the table, feeding the cat, getting them dressed, in the car and buckled in, and finally leaving seems to take four times as long as it should. This doesn’t take into account the return trips to pick up the things that we forgot.

All of these things have made me appreciate Willy all the more for all of the wonderful help and support that he is at home. They actually make me feel that I am the one that supports him around here. They also increase the admiration that I have for all the single parents that I know. They are all so together and on top of things. I can’t begin to imagine how they do it!!